ROCHESTER — Illinois is the winner of the Wes Lunt sweepstakes, and now the former Rochester High School quarterback hopes to turn the Illini into a winner on the field.

“I’ve always loved Illinois. As a kid, you always want to play for your state school,” Lunt said at a press conference announcing his transfer from Oklahoma State to Illinois at the Rochester Athletic Complex on Monday.

Lunt said in May he was leaving Oklahoma State following his freshman season. After choosing Illinois, he’ll have to sit out one year before being eligible for three seasons with the Illini.

Illinois wasn’t high on Lunt’s list while in high school because of the uncertainty with the former coaching staff. A year later, Illinois coach Ron Zook and his offensive coordinator — Paul Petrino — were gone and in came head coach Tim Beckman.

After a 2-10 season in 2012, rumors started swirling about Beckman’s grasp on the Illinois job. But this time, Lunt said he had to look past all that.

“Of course, you look at that and you want to be with the same staff the whole time you’re there,” he said. “Unfortunately, that’s college football.

“They’ll be there as long as I’m there; I’m going to try to make sure of it.”

Beckman on Tuesday made the move official by announcing Lunt had signed the necessary paperwork.

"We're thrilled that Wes has decided to come back home to the state of Illinois to play for the Fighting Illini," Beckman said in a statement posted on the Illini website. "As he showed last season starting as a true-freshman for Oklahoma State, he's an exceptional talent and an exceptional person."

At Illinois, Lunt is excited to work with first-year offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Bill Cubit, who was hired by Illinois in January after being fired as the Western Michigan head coach.

“Just watching spring highlights . . . they are a pass-happy offense,” he said. “Coach Cubit has done a great job everywhere he’s been. Just looking at the Western Michigan quarterbacks, they threw for a ton of yards, which is fun to see as a quarterback.”

Cowboy out

At Oklahoma State, coach Mike Gundy named Lunt as the team’s starting quarterback for 2012 as a freshman. Lunt was the first true freshman to open the season as the Cowboys’ starting quarterback since at least 1950, according to The Oklahoman newspaper.

Lunt wouldn’t cite a specific reason for leaving, and said he didn’t make that decision until after spring practice.

“I probably didn’t have that (feeling) until after spring ball,” Lunt said. “I had doubts going into spring ball and I had a positive attitude going into it, just trying to become a starter. That didn’t work out so I decided to move on and talk to coach Gundy about it.

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“I didn’t leave OSU because I didn’t want to compete.”

Lunt’s choices were narrowed to Louisville and Illinois because Gundy blocked Lunt from transferring to 37 other schools, including three of the five Lunt had requested to speak with (Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Southern Mississippi).

An appeal would’ve been too time consuming, Lunt said.

At Oklahoma State, Lunt threw for 1,108 yards on 81 of 131 passing in six games.

His freshman season was shortened by injuries. He suffered an injury to his knee and ankle early against Louisiana-Lafayette in Week 3 and missed three games. He came back to beat TCU 36-14 in Week 7, but left the Week 8 game against Kansas State after a blow to the head.

He missed the Cowboys’ final four regular season game and took just three snaps in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

Rochester coach Derek Leonard said he estimated he received more than 200 phone calls from coaches hoping to land Lunt, who was ranked No. 7 nationally by position in his 2012 class by rivals.com.

“To get someone of this caliber at Illinois is huge for coach Beckman and huge for Illinois,” Leonard said.

Ryan Mahan can be reached at 788-1546. Follow him at twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.